Pubdate: Tue, 27 Feb 2001
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
Copyright: 2001 Richmond Newspapers Inc.
Contact:  P.O. Box 85333, Richmond, VA 23293
Fax: (804) 775-8072
Feedback: http://www.gatewayva.com/feedback/totheeditor.shtml
Website: http://www.timesdispatch.com/
Author: Rex Bowman
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?186 (Oxycontin)

EARLEY CALLS CONFERENCE

Synthetic Drug Focus Of Meeting On Thursday

Concerned about the growing illegal abuse of a powerful synthetic morphine 
called OxyContin, representatives from attorney general offices in eight 
states plan to gather in Richmond on Thursday to discuss ways to limit the 
drug to prescribed users.

Those who obtain the drug through prescriptions, meanwhile, worry that 
growing government interest in the drug could lead to more regulation, and 
that could mean more difficulty in getting doctors to prescribe OxyContin.

The OxyContin summit, called by Virginia Attorney General Mark L. Earley, 
follows the state medical examiner's disclosure earlier this month that 32 
Southwest Virginians had overdosed on the prescription painkiller in the 
past four years, 28 of those in the past two years. Eastern Kentucky has 
also seen an increase in overdoses among illegal users, and several states, 
including Virginia, have seen crime surge as abusers addicted to the drug 
rob and steal to obtain it.

Just yesterday, a federal grand jury in Abingdon indicted five Lee County 
residents and an Ohioan, charging them with running an illegal OxyContin ring.

Earley spokesman Randy Davis said the summit agenda is wide open, but 
Earley wants the drug's maker, Purdue Pharma L.P. of Connecticut, to offer 
assurances that it is doing something to stem the tide of abuse.

A Purdue Pharma representative plans to speak to the attorney general 
representatives Thursday. In a letter to Earley two weeks ago, company Vice 
President Michael Friedman said Purdue Pharma is taking steps to keep the 
drug in the right hands. Friedman also said the company is concerned that 
continuing news coverage of the painkiller's abuse could unfairly make it 
harder for people in pain to get prescriptions for OxyContin.

OxyContin, which comes in pills ranging from 10 to 160 milligrams, is 
generally prescribed for those in acute or terminal pain. The Food and Drug 
Administration approved its use in 1996. Abusers have found that they can 
attain a powerful feeling of euphoria by crushing and snorting the pills or 
by injecting them. Those methods of taking the drug, however, can be deadly.

Several legal users of OxyContin who have contacted The Times-Dispatch by 
e-mail said yesterday they fear the attorneys general will rush to tighten 
regulation of the drug without considering that it helps millions daily. 
States sending representatives to the meeting are Virginia, Kentucky, West 
Virginia, Tennessee, Indiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

"For somebody with chronic pain like myself, this drug allows you to lead a 
basically normal life," said Steve R., 27, a cancer patient from 
Minneapolis, Minn., who declined to give his last name in part for fear 
that somebody might try to rob him of the drug. "It's already hard enough 
to get it as it is. Doctors are afraid to prescribe it. I have to sign a 
two-page agreement to get it in Minnesota."

"They should keep a leash on it, but don't restrict it and don't jump on 
doctors who write prescriptions for it. Don't make doctors afraid to 
prescribe it," said John L., 43, of Mechanicsville, who said he suffers 
from intense back pain. "There are those of us who are entitled to relief. 
I have a wife and three children - this allows me to enjoy the time with my 
family."

Davis, Earley's spokesman, said the attorneys general are not bent on any 
particular course of action. "I don't know what they're going to do. But 
they do want to talk about it."

Purdue Pharma already has distributed thousands of brochures to doctors and 
pharmacists on how to keep OxyContin from falling into the wrong hands. The 
company is also about to begin a pilot program in Maine in which it would 
give away tamper-proof prescription pads to doctors. Southwest Virginia 
prosecutors assert that many people are forging prescriptions to obtain 
OxyContin, and Purdue Pharma has offered to add Virginia to the pilot program.
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